The Empty House
by totallyblondee
Summary: While out on a trip to a desolate street, the Torchwood team come across 14 year old Ariella Taylor. Young and mysterious, they take her back to the hub. One simple trip then turns out to be a race against time to save her life.
1. Prologue

Okay, so this is my first torchwood fic, and my second fanfic altogerther, so please be kind. Chapters will get longer than this, I promise. R&R xoxox

The Empty House

Prologue

James Taylor was exhausted. He was just home from work, where he just had to stay fro two extra hours, just because someone hadn't turned up for their shift! To add to that, the power in his house had just gone off, and he still had to make dinner for himself and his daughter.

He was mulling this over in his head and cursing 'fate' while trying to fix the fuse box. He was just about to give up when something outside the wondow caught his attention. It was a blueish-white light, and it seemed to be floating. It also gave him the chills, as he felt as if it was looking right at him.

He tore his eyes away from the strange little thing when there was an almighty crash came from upstairs where his daughter was. He called for her, but to no avail. He sprinted up and ran like a madman in and out of all the rooms until he found her. She was laying on the floor of his bedroom, screaming. He thought she was having some sort of fit and an towards her.

Just before he could reach her, the room was flooded with a light. The very same light, in fact, that he had been transfixed by only minutes before. He tried to get back to his screaming daughter, but his legs would not comply. He found he could not do anything but stare in the direction the light had come from.

He blinked. What was he doing in here? Why was he shouting? He didn't know, nor did he care. He just wanted to get closer to the source of the light. It was the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He reached his had out, right though where the window should have been. He wanted to touch it.

Then everything went black.


	2. Meeting Torchwood

Wayhay. So here is chapter 1 for you. Please let me know what you think. Should I continue with this story, or drop it? 3s for my readers! R&R xoxox

"I'm getting traces of rift activity at Guildford Street, near the train station. I cant get a clear reading, though, maybe we should go and check it out." Tosh called back over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving the computer screen.

"Great, let's go now and we can catch some lunch, I'm starving" Owen suggested. As if to back him up, his stomach rumbled loudly. Jack laughed and led them all out to the new SUV, which now had 7 seats, so they could take Ianto along on their trips.

They drove for a while, stopping twice for Owen to get something to eat. It was late, so by the time they got there they were all exhausted. The atmosphere of the street didn't help much either.

It was completely lifeless, with not a soul in sight.

"It's like a ghost town." Gwen breathed quietly.

They figured there must have been aliens of some description here within the past 24 hours due to the state of things. They searched for over 2 hours but found nobody. Not one body.

Jack and Gwen were in their 17th house when jack heard a faint thump come from the upstairs. He walked up silently with his gun and his half-broken flashlight pointed in front of him.

There were 3 bedrooms, one master bedroom, one spare room and what looked like a teenager's room. Jack found it difficult in the dim light to tell whether it belonged to a girl or a boy, because as far as he could see there wasn't a spec of pink in the whole room.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a gun loading behind his head. He raised his hands and turned around slowly.

"Drop your gun." The hooded figure ordered him. He did. "Who are you? Why are you here?" to Jack the voice sounded like a girl. She was scared, but she hid it well.

"My name is Captain Jack Harkness. My team and I are here to find out what happened." He eyed her gun, "We don't want to hurt anyone." She lowered her gun about half an inch. That was progress, right? She spoke again,

"I don't know what happened. it was all so fast. I was in the house with my dad, and the power was out. Then there was this pain in my head, and I couldn't stand up anymore. When I finally could everyone was gone," She seemed to be arguing with herself, but Jack dismissed it.

"I think you should come with me. You'll be safe with us until we find out what happened here."

He shone his dimly lit torch on her face. She looked about 14 years old. She was also breathtakingly beautiful. Her eyes were a striking shade of grey and her blonde hair cascaded down to her elbows. She was as pale as snow. She wore a dark grey hooded zipper and navy/white bleached jeans. Her t-shirt was also white and she was wearing black converse.

"What's your name?" he asked her. She looked at him, unconvinced.

"I'm not telling you until I know I can trust you." she said, her voice thick with accusation.

"If you don't trust me," Jack began, "then why are you coming with me?"

"Because it's either that or stay in an empty house with no idea what's going on." Jack smiled. "That sounds fair." and with that she followed him back to the SUV.

Jack spoke up when they reached it. "Okay," he began, pointing at each person in the group individually, "This is Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones. Team, this is I'm-not-telling-my-name-until-i-trust-you." She shot him a look, but he continued unfazed, "I found her in one of the houses. She's coming back to the hub with us." The one called Owen opened his mouth to speak, but Jack cut him off,

"No arguments."


	3. Now you see her, Now you don't

Thanks so much to my amazing reviewers, CHILIARNOLD and kie1993. It means a lot. Please R&R xoxox

Chapter 2

The drive back to the hub took a long time. The team were asleep, apart from Jack, who was driving, and the girl, who was sitting beside him, staring out of her window. Jack's curiosity was slowly getting the better of him but he didn't want to cause her any distress after the days events. Eventually, though, he cracked.

"So, are you gonna tell me your name yet? Or do you still think I'm kidnapping you?" she looked at him with a blunt expression on her face.

"You can't technically be kidnapping me if i agree to come." her face then turned serious. She craned her neck to check the rest of them were asleep. When she saw that they were, she turned back to him. "It's Ariella." she said, and Jack smiled triumphantly. She noticed that he thought he had won, but continued, "Ariella Ember Taylor. I prefer Ari though. I was born on 5 July 1997 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. My mum died giving birth." She gave him a cold look. "Is that enough information for you, Captain Harkness?"

It took a few seconds for Jack to recover from this before he realised she was waiting for an answer. "Yeah. I'm sorry" she just shrugged, then continued staring out the window. The remainder of the journey was in silence.

They reached the hub at about 11pm. Jack led everyone to the 'visitors entrance' while Ari gazed around, confused.

"So, we're standing on a brick in the middle of the street. This is going to help me find my dad, how exactly?" Jack just smiled. He found her sarcastic humour somewhat amusing. He cherished the look of shock on her face when they started their descent.

"What the hell?"

"Welcome to Torchwood." Jack announced as they reached the floor. "Ianto, put the kettle on, will you? Ari, how do you take your tea?"

"I'm actually fine, thanks."

"Tea is very good for shock." He insisted.

"Umm… OK, then. Milk, two sugars, please. Do I really want to know why a pterodactyl has just flown over my head?"

"I doubt it."

Ari continued to walk round in awe so Jack took advantage of her being out of earshot.

"You scanned her?" he murmured to Tosh, who was once again up to her eyes in electronics.

"Human." Tosh confirmed. "But I'd have to take some DNA to be sure. There must be some reason she hasn't just disappeared like everyone else."

"I dunno, she seems pretty human to me." Jack persisted, "But I will tell you when it's alright to collect DNA. I'm not really sure now is the best time." They both looked in the direction the girl was standing. She had just disappeared down the stairs which led to the cells. They exchanged worried glances. "I better go make sure she doesn't freak out down there."

Jack left Tosh to her computer and ran in the same direction that Ari had just gone. He didn't want her seeing a weevil and having a breakdown. She seemed tough on the outside but she was still just an ordinary teenager (as far as they knew), and Jack wasn't sure just how much more alien stuff she could take in one day. He was deep in these thoughts when he turned the corner to the cells an looked around. He turned around. He looked in all of the cells. Twice.

She was gone.


	4. Eyes of Despair

My brain is working in overdrive tonight so, in a desperate attempt to shut it up, I'm putting up the next chapter. I have a plot (sort of) worked out in my head for this story, so maybe i'll finish it. It all depends on how popular it is though. But hey, keep calm and carry on, right? R&R xoxox

"Are you looking for me, Jack?" came a voice from directly behind him. He spun around in shock.

"Where the hell did you come from?" He demanded. If she was playing a trick on him then she 'got him', but Jack had a bad feeling about this.

"I've been here the whole time." She laughed. "You look a little pale. Are you alright?" He stared at her. She _hadn't_ been there a second ago, right?

"I'm fine." he turned on his heel and walked out, leaving Ari standing with a confused expression on her face. She turned to face the creature in the cell. It's eyes looked so cold, so full of despair. It was lonely in there, she could tell. If she let him out Jack would go beserk, though. She placed her hand on the glass. The strange creature inside mirrored her actions. She smiled. Then frowned in thought.

"Did your family vanish on you, too?" she asked him sadly. He grunted in response. She smiled again. "I'll tell you what. For personal reasons, I'll take that as a yes." she was intending to keep talking to him (she had decided it was a him) but her words were cut short by her gasp of pain. Her head suddenly felt as if it was on fire. She lay on the floor and tried to breathe, but she couldn't seem to manage it. It was almost as if she was no longer in control of herself.

She couldn't sit up, she couldn't even move. What could she do?

She screamed.

"... and that, my dear Ianto, is how to stop a planet from being attacked by giant plants." Jack finished.

"That's very interesting, sir. I'll know in the future that if the world ever gets attacked by giant plants, it's not dangerous as long as we have some strawberries."

"Oh, bugger!" Owen yelled as the electricity cut out. "I was on level 17!"

"It's alright, Owen" Tosh said into the darkness, "I'll fix it"

"I better go find Ari." Jack announced, "If I can."

"What was that, sir?"

"Nothing."

It took Jack approxomately 5 minutes to reach the cells, where he found Ari standing straight up and staring at him. Something was off though. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Ari, there's been a power cut. Are you alright?" She didn't answer. She just kept staring at him. "Ari?" He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. He had just made contact when she ran at him, screaming and thrasing about. He tried to control her flailing limbs but she just seemed hell-bent on hurting him.

He eventually managed to push her into one of the cells and lock her in. She banged on the glass and yelled, though no real words were coming out. Eventually she admitted defeat and backed away from the glass. Jack stared at her.

"Who are you?" he demanded. She just stared. She was moving her lips, but she seemed to be talking, or arguing, with herself. He tried to hear what she was saying.

"No...not safe...get home...my dad...stop"

"I demand to know who you are!"

Her head snapped up. She looked possessed. Jack hadn't completely ruled that out.

"I..." she started. Her voice was warped, overlapping with another.

"Try and speak to me, come on."

"I can't find him...He was just here. It crashed, now he's gone."

"Who's gone? Who are you talking about?"

She looked as if she was going to say more, but then she stopped.

Then Ari collapsed.


End file.
